Annual/Report/2013
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01 PARTICIPATION DES JEUNES ANNUAL/REPORT/2013 1 SUMMARY 01. YOUTH PARTICIPATION European Elections: LoveYouthFuture League of Young Voters InterRegional Youth Cooperation Post 2015 European Youth Capital Vote@16 Citizenship education 02. STRONG YOUTH ORGANISATIONS Funding for youth work Youth Work Policy AR Youth work Capacity Building 2013 Membership Growth Project Volunteering 03. AUTONOMY & INCLUSION Employment Quality Internships and Apprenticeships Youth Rights and Anti-discrimination Education Mobility 04. Institutional Relations European Union Council of Europe United Nations 05. COMMUNICATION Media relations Publications Online presence YO! Fest 06. INCLUSIVE PLATFORM Membership Services Working structures 07. FINANCES 08. BOARD MEMBERS 09. SECRETARIAT 10. MEMBER ORGANISATIONS A CHALLENGING Words by Peter Matjašič, President Giuseppe Porcaro, YEAR! Secretary-General Since 2007, the Youth Forum has been warning European Governments and Institutions about AR 2013 the emergence of a lost generation and it has denounced the lack of strategic and strong action to invest in youth. In 2013, the Forum still insisted on this simple but fundamental point. We continued to raise the voice, both by supporting our members active at the grassroots level as well as by claiming the rights of millions of young people at the highest political level. It was one of the most intense years ever for the Forum and its members, with the negotiations with the European Parliament, the Commission and the Council over the Multiannual Financial Framework as well as on the new Programmes at their peak. In this context we celebrated the 25th Anniversary of the EU Youth Programmes and succeeded to get both Commissioner Vassiliou and the Chair of the CULT committee of the European Parliament stating, at the YO!Fest, their agreement on a separate chapter for youth in the Erasmus+ programme as well the continuation of the administrative grants for youth organisations. 5 We strengthened our presence and visibility on youth after the unsatisfactory results of the Ministerial Conference in employment issues, especially with direct participation of the St. Petersbourg last year. Youth Forum during the Heads of State Conference on Youth All those achievements and challenges are only part of the Employment in Paris, in November. enormous work we did during the year. We achieved all We pushed for our Youth Employment agenda at the highest this thanks to the volunteer commitment of our Board, the level: for quality jobs, internships and the need for a true professional work of our Secretariat and the support of our commitment on mobilisation of resources for the Youth Member Organisations. Guarantee. In the following pages you can read more about what we We continued to prepare for the European Elections in 2014. did to achieve greater youth participation, stronger youth We launched the League of Young Voters with a spectacular organisations and to increase youth autonomy and inclusion in flight of a hot air balloon taking off the Esplanade of the Europe, which are our key goals for the current work-plan and European Parliament in the presence of President Barroso. strategic priorities cycle. We also launched our LoveYouthFuture Pledges to ask the For the first time our workplan includes Critical Success candidates for the next Parliament to commit to a more youth Factors for our advocacy goals. This provides a more friendly European Union. accountable system of monitoring the achievements of the Forum. In this report the results towards such Success Factors At global level we congratulated the appointment of the UN for the first year of that plan cycle have been highlighted. Secretary-General Special Envoy on Youth and started direct channels of communication with him. Moreover, a continued Enjoy reading! follow-up of Council of Europe affairs is in progress thanks to good cooperation with the Advisory Council on Youth especially concerning the next steps on raising the Youth Rights Agenda 6 7 01 YOUTH PARTICIPATION In preparation for the 2014 European Elections, two campaigns were launched - the League of Young Voters whose aim is to ensure a youth- focused campaign and LoveYouthFuture, which aims to ensure that Youth Forum priorities are endorsed by candidates. During the year, the Forum guaranteed a legacy for its 2012 campaign of Vote at 16, maintaining the debate on the public agenda and it continued to follow national policy developments. A new Policy Paper on Citizenship Education will guide the Forum's discussion on this topic in the future. The Forum's global cooperation continued through ICMYO and other platforms, while the Forum focused on the post-2015 process, making a path for the European youth voice to be heard. Lastly, the Youth Forum awarded the title of European Youth Capital 2016 to Ganja, Azerbaijan - many congratulations to them and good luck to European Youth Capital 2014 - Thessaloniki. 9 CRA ITICAL SUCCESS F ctOR EUR OPEAN ELECTIONS: LOVEYOUTHFUTURE The Critical Success Factor also aiming to do this. Launched in October 2013, The campaign was launched foreseen for this Chapter •The Youth Forum the LoveYouthFuture Pledges on 15 October in the European of the Work Plan is: LoveYouthFuture campaign, show how European election Parliament with a high-level launched in October 2013, candidates can love Europe’s Panel Debate on the topic A strong European initiative to which encourages European young people and give them a of Youth and the European strengthen youth participation Election candidates to future. The 11 Pledges cover Elections. At this event, a in decision-making processes take 11 Pledges for Youth, vital topics for young people Votewatch-Youth Forum report at all levels and inclusion of a ensuring they are endorsed such as quality education, was also launched, analysing chapter on intergenerational as a youth-friendly candidate. youth rights, protections the top-10 votes of the justice in the programmes of Candidates who sign the for young people, youth European Parliament on youth political parties. Pledges are referenced on the employment, strong youth civil policy issues. LoveYouthFuture website and society, youth investment, free The Youth Forum activities identified by "my Pledge to movement, inclusive democracy The Youth Forum set up a task- aimed at ensuring this include: youth" logo in their campaign. and balanced budgets. The force on the European Elections • The launch in May 2013 of •Structured dialogue continued LoveYouthFuture campaign in order to build cooperation the League of Young Voters, to give a direct voice to the focuses on encouraging MEP between members on European with a strong commitment EU to young people through candidates to sign these Election campaigns. from the 5 main European Europe. Pledges - if they commit at political parties to engage least to 6, they are listed as Outreach continued throughout with the platform and to supporters on the website and the year with the main European take the issues raised by the get a logo “my pledge to youth” Political Parties and the Political League into account in their for use in their campaign. Party Youth Organisations campaigns. The 26 national MEP candidates are already members of the Youth Forum to Leagues across the EU are able to sign the Pledges in 10 brief them on the campaign and languages, with more planned explore possible cooperation and for 2014. involvement. 10 11 LEAGUE OF YoUNG VoteRS The League of Young Voters political programmes. The supported the League in Finally, the League also was launched at the YO!Fest website is available in all EU the organisation of several continued to prepare for in May 2013, in the presence official languages. elections-focused debates its main activities of the of President of the European at the Yo!Fest and a special campaign of 2014, which will Commission Barroso, as a Several capacity building youth-focused Vote Match tool include training for young non-partisan and independent events were organised was developed by Votewatch. candidates, the European source of information for to support member In order to provide it with an Youth Event 2014, and young people and as an organisations in getting evidence-based approach, importantly, all the campaigns umbrella framework for involved. The League will cover the League partnered with run by member organisations all youth-related electoral nearly all EU countries and, to the International Institute of the Youth Forum across campaigns. date, 26 branches have been for Democracy and Electoral Europe. approved and 6 international Assistance for a study The official website (www. youth campaigns will be LYV looking at the implications youngvoters.eu) was launched co-branded. of continued youth in its first phase. New tools disengagement at European aimed at informing young The League continues to elections and issuing a set of voters will be added in the strengthen itself as a separate recommendations, finalised in first months of 2014, such as legal entity and as an alliance January 2014. a web-experience that guides of NGOs working on young users through the European voters, each bringing their elections and a comparison own expertise to the project. tool that contrasts young The International Debate users’ views with those of Education Association (IDEA) 12 13 INTERREGIONAL YoUTH COOPERATION The Youth Forum's mission as a more unified voice for Cape Verde. A Euro-Arab and highly relevant topic of human in developing cooperation youth-led organisations at Mediterranean Youth Leaders rights and youth participation. between youth globally global level. A World Youth meeting was organised to A meeting of the Euro-Latin continued during 2013 through Conference (WYC) is scheduled develop cooperation and American and Caribbean ICMYO and various youth for May 2014 in Sri Lanka dialogue during the first Youth Forum (FEULAC) took platforms, in developing the and the Youth Forum attended Mediterranean University on place on 25 September in World Youth Conference and the first task-force meeting in Youth and Global Citizenship Mollina, Spain, and was also also through the Universities September, pushing for the in Tunisia (1-8 September).